United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region is taking the leadership reins of Kalamazoo County’s Continuum of Care program, which aims to help homeless families and individuals.
According to Alyssa Stewart, Vice President of Strategy & Engagement, the Continuum of Care, or CoC, brings together partners and programs serving the homeless to better coordinate housing and other resources. The CoC also gathers data to help understand and best support the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
The nationwide CoC concept grew from a push by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the 1990s for communities to streamline funding requests and coordinate services.
“Heading the CoC fits perfectly with United Way’s mission and skills,” Stewart said. “Our ability to convene the right partners around critical issues will amplify the CoC’s effectiveness and help the community tackle the broader factors that cause chronic homelessness.”
For the past 20 years, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) led the CoC. “LISC did a fantastic job of building an effective support system for homeless people in Kalamazoo,” Stewart said. “LISC’s work puts United Way in a great position to accelerate that success.”
Chuck Vliek, Executive Director of Kalamazoo LISC, said he was proud of the organization’s progress over the years and eager to partner with United Way on the path forward.
“Homelessness is a complex challenge with no simple solution. By partnering with United Way and other stakeholders, we’re confident that Kalamazoo County will see great strides in addressing that challenge,” Vliek said.
During 2020, the Continuum of Care Board will become a committee of the UWBCKR Board, which will have the authority to oversee the CoC’s activities. Also, the CoC will add a Director and two support staff. In 2021-22, the CoC plans to expand the scope and scale of its partnerships, funding sources, and projects.
“Our vision is that of all Kalamazoo County residents living in safe, healthy, affordable homes in a thriving community,” said Stewart. “A robust CoC makes that possible by bringing together philanthropic, public and private dollars, strategic partners and data-driven actions.”
Meet the CoC Team
Three individuals have joined United Way to guide the work of the CoC.
Sara Jacobs serves as the Continuum of Care Director. She brings four years of experience working in the nonprofit sector addressing homelessness in Kalamazoo County. Prior to accepting this position, she was the Director of Homeless Youth Programs through Out Proud Safe, developing programs helping LGBTQ homeless youth overcome barriers to safe housing. She has worked since 2017 with a coalition of organizations serving people experiencing homelessness and government agencies through a lens of social justice and person-centered empowerment. Sara holds degrees in Human Resources Management and Business Administration from Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business.
Carrie Bosch is the Continuum of Care HMIS Systems Administrator. Carrie has been working as a Program Development and Measurement Associate in Social Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the last five years. She also holds both a Masters and Ph.D. through the School of Social Work. She loves working with data and on research activities and then applying her findings of that research into recommendations at the systems level.
Tiyanna Williams is the Continuum of Care Associate. Before joining United Way, she worked as an Eviction Prevention Team Lead with Community enCompass of Muskegon. As a Kalamazoo resident, Tiyanna is looking forward to again working within her community while still working around the focus of affordable housing. She is a graduate of WMU, with a degree in Psychology.